White Lake Little League juniors rally for another one-run win at state tournament

The White Lake Little League Juniors team put on its rally caps again on Saturday and picked up its second-straight win at the state tournament in Jackson.

White Lake trailed 5-1 heading into its final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, but scored five runs to pull out a thrilling 6-5 victory over L'Anse Creuse.

"This team just doesn't give up," said White Lake coach Jim Atkins, whose team won its first state tournament game 9-8. "We hung in there and kept playing good defense and we finally broke through. We're all still pretty wound up."

White Lake plays its final pool play game at 8 a.m. this morning and appears to be one of the eight teams that will advance into Monday's single-elimination portion of the tournament.

Isaac Atkins produced the big hit on Saturday, ripping a two-run double with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to 5-4. Zarren Aylor then reached on an error, which brought in the tying run.

The winning run scored on a passed ball.

Jared Brock went the distance and picked up the pitching win. Coach Atkins also singled out the defense of third baseman Daniel DuBois, centerfielder Aylor and catcher Cameron Bayman.

"We've won a couple of close games and that's great for our confidence," said Atkins, who is assisted by Scott Christensen and Kevin Buchberger.